There are cases where a service provider requires information about the location of the mobile station of a cellular network so as to provide a specific local service or push service. Such services could be an advertisement or a local map depending on the location of the mobile station.
So far, the service provider requiring the location of a mobile station had to rely on an information transmitted by the mobile station at an application level, if available. This information was usually based on a location measurement using for example a GPS (Global Positioning System).
Thus, the provision of a service related to the location of the mobile station was restricted to those cases where the mobile station is capable of providing the required location information.